[Sidenote: Storm center of ‘revival’ in Massachusetts and Connecticut.]
[Sidenote: Efforts to establish a training institution.]
=Early Leaders in the Common School Revival.=--The educational awakening with which the beginning of this third period seems to be marked, has been generally known as ‘the common school revival.’ It first became evident during the latter part of the decade between 1830 and 1840, and had its storm center in Massachusetts and Connecticut. While it greatly furthered the cause of public education everywhere, because of the decadence into which New England had fallen, the demand for an educational awakening was strongest there. In this revival the most conspicuous figure was probably Horace Mann, but there were several leaders in the field before him, many were contemporaneous, and the work was expanded and deepened by others of distinction long after he withdrew from the scene. For a score of years before Mann appeared, definite preparation for the movement had been in progress, and the labors of the individuals and associations engaged in these endeavors should be briefly noted. Many of the reformers seem to have recommended an improvement in methods through the creation of an institution for training teachers, thus anticipating one of the greatest achievements of Mann. Actual attempts at a private normal school were even made by the Reverend Samuel R. Hall at Concord, Vermont (1823), Andover, Massachusetts (1830), and Plymouth, New Hampshire (1837).
[Sidenote: Articles in educational journals.]
[Sidenote: Reports on European education.]
A number of educational journals, moreover, published articles on schoolbooks, the methods of Lancaster, Pestalozzi, Neef, and Fellenberg, the infant and Sunday schools, physical education, European school systems, and a variety of other timely topics and reforms. Among these progressive publications were the _American Journal of Education_, edited by William Russell from 1826-1830, and then continued from 1831 to 1839, as the _American Annals of Education_ under the editorship of William C. Woodbridge, and the _Quarterly Register_, published 1828-1843 by the ‘American Educational Society.’ The latest European ideas were also reported from first-hand observation by a number who had gone abroad to investigate. The most influential of these reports was _A Year in Europe_, written in 1819 by Professor John Griscom (see p. 292), who was a lecturer before several New York associations, including the Public School Society. Almost as widely read were the reports of William C. Woodbridge in 1824, and of Professor Calvin E. Stowe of Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, in 1836.